Livingston v Glenrothes
A comfortable nine wicket victory away to Livingston on Saturday saw Glenrothes Cricket Club’s 1stXI maintain top position in East of Scotland Division One.
The hosts decided to bat first after winning the toss, hoping to keep their visitors in the scorching heat for 3 hours plus at the pleasant Dresselrigg ground.
Darren Bremner and Malcolm Neil, the latter back after a few weeks absence, opened the bowling for Glenrothes and left armer Neil showed he could still cut it as he was soon rewarded for some accurate bowling when Mukhtar Ahmed mis-timed a drive in the 6 th over and Darren Lewis held a low catch a cover point and Livingston were 9 for 1. Bremner, again turning in a very miserly first spell conceding 7 runs from 5 overs, was replaced by paceman Tiro Madiseng and Neil made way for Darren Lewis.
After an over of some short stuff, Lewis found his line and length the following over, clean bowling skipper Stuart Lang with the score on 28 and a few overs later Madiseng got his first wicket of the day when Bremner took a simple catch in the slips to dismiss Neil Jukes. From 38 for 3, Livingston were rocked further when they slipped to 61 for 5 after Lewis produced a couple of beauties to bowl David Vettese and Ian Thomson all ends up as the halfway stage of the innings approached.
Aussie Ryan Hunter, who had opened the batting, was still at the crease and Glenrothes knew that he would be the key wicket to get, particularly since he had made 84 in the first game between the sides back in May at the Town Park.
It was with much relief then when Mike Boyd, who in only his second over after replacing the tiring Lewis, got one past the defences of Hunter to clip his off stump and he was back to the pavilion for 38 with the score on 79 for 6 in the 30 th over.
Although Navid Asghar and Iain Murdoch took the score to 90 without further loss, all chances of Livingston making a sizeable score vanished in an action packed 33 rd over when after taking a single, Madiseng had Murdoch caught behind standing-up by wicket-keeper Cammy Ross, then after a customary no ball from the South African and a couple of dot balls, Jim Wilson was run out for a duck and Hamed Ahmed was bowled first ball.
The final wicket to fall went to Madiseng in his next over when he claimed his fourth wicket as Asghar flashed at one too many and was caught behind by Ross for a stubborn 18 and Livingston were all out one short of a bonus point for 99. Best returns for Glenrothes with the ball were Madiseng 4 for 21 and Lewis 3 for 27 although Bremner, Neil and Boyd all bowled very well and kept the batsmen tied down.
On a pitch that still offered something for the bowlers, Greg Hopcroft and Tiro Madiseng endured a fine opening spell of pace bowling from Ryan Hunter and Ian Thomson and, with the odd bit of good fortune, they managed to see them off taking about two an over in the process.
The score had moved on to 42 when Glenrothes lost their first wicket as Hopcroft, who looked to be getting more confident and playing a few shots, was caught mistiming a hook from Feraz Asghar in the 16 th over and he was out for 19.
Ben Honeyman (21 not out) and Madiseng (49 not out) kept the scoreboard ticking over with singles and the odd boundary and as the score reached the eighties, they quickly finished the game off with a plethora of boundaries as the home sides heads went down. Fittingly, the winning runs came in the 29 th over from a boundary from man of the match Madiseng who, although missed out on a fifty, could be well pleased with his days work.
This was a very professional performance from the team in all departments and they will head in to this Saturdays home fixture against Watsonian 2ndXI confident of taking the 20 points and another step closer to the title.
Click here for Saturdays scorecard |
